Pro Football Hall of Famer and Dolphins legend Bob Griese remembers what its like to go through growing pains on your way to the top. For the first three seasons of Griese’s legendary 14 year career with the Dolphins, the team struggled mightily, and didn’t make the playoffs. But then the rest is history, as the Dolphins would win two Super Bowls in the next four years, and record the greatest season in NFL history by going undefeated in 1972. Griese hopes that eventually current Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill can follow his career path, but maybe just accelerate his growth a year earlier than he succeeded in doing back in the 1970s.

Obviously, the former Dolphins signal caller is very enveloped and interested in the success of the current quarterback, as Griese is keeping a close eye on Ryan Tannehill’s development. In his third season in the league, Griese is expecting Tannehill to learn from his mistakes so far, take lessons from it, and improve as a passer and leader.

“It’s his third year, and he expects to get better every year,” said Griese. “There’s a lot of good things that he did, but you just put those in your back pocket…Now you look at the things you didn’t do so well, and that’s what you improve on. I always say you learn more from your mistakes than you ever did from winning. You go back and look at your mistakes and see what you did wrong, and that’s what you need to improve on. He’s a bright guy and wants to do that.”

“(Sometimes) the current quarterback needs to talk to the old veterans, I think he feels very comfortable doing that,” said Griese.

While Tannehill may be the key to the offense’s successes or failures this season, it isn’t all on him. They’ll need to be improvement from all positions, especially the offensive line.

“The quarterback is in his third year, we’ve got pretty good running backs, the tight ends are pretty good, and so are the wide receivers,” said Griese. “It’s obvious, aside from Mike Pouncey and Branden Albert, somebody (on the offensive line) has to step up and be a player. Some of these draft picks like the #1 guy (Ja’Wuan) James and Billy Turner are going to have to step up and play.”

Breakout players won’t be limited to the trenches though, as one particular wide receiver has stood out the most of possibly everyone though the offseason program. Rookie wideout Jarvis Landry has flashed, and according to Griese, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Griese asked his son, Brian, a former NFL quarterback and ESPN personality, about Landry. He heard nothing but good things back, and even that he may have been the best player on that entire LSU offense.

Yes, better than the receiver drafted a round ahead of him.

“My son Brian is working with ESPN and did a couple of LSU games, and when I mentioned that the Dolphins picked him up in the draft, he was really high on him, said Griese. “He liked him a lot better than the other receiver (Odell Beckham Jr.).”

The Dolphins will need big contributions from all over for the team to reach its ultimate goal, and that requires guys elevating their play to the highest levels possible. Griese believes it’ll be up to the young players to shine, as their play could make or break the season.

“Some of these young guys have to step up,” said Griese. “At the end of the year we’ll have to look back and say that they stepped up and did a good job.”

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The opinions, analysis and/or speculation expressed by The Finsiders Blog represent those of individual writers, and unless quoted or clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions, policies or desires of the Miami Dolphins organization, front office, coaches and executives. Writers' views are formulated independently from any inside information and/or conversation with Dolphins officials, including the coaches and scouts, unless otherwise noted.

Can you imagine that Ryan’s parents, Wife and friends just a few years ago knew him as a college football WR are now seeing him as the QB of our team in the same room with B.G., D.M. and Coach Shula all at the same time. WOW! Could you ever have thought?

You have to believe & know that we can do it. Everyone must step up and do all you can to be a proud Dolphin. This is our team and they are all proud to be our team.

When Griese broke into the league, we didn’t think he was going to cut it as an NFL quarterback, in fact he struggled more than Tannehill has. All he did after that, was take us to the post season every year, and lead us to two Super Bowl victories. A lot of these Tannehill nay sayers can learn a lesson from that. Tannehill has all of the tools needed to do the same and he definitely has the brains to do it. I have the confidence in him that he’ll succeed here in Miami, but more importantly, he has the confidence in himself that he’ll do it.